Below is a table containing the most recently updated top 50 golfers in the world rankings following the conclusion of the 2013 FedEx Cup. Tiger Woods remains at #1. Notable movements over the last while are Henrik Stenson moving up to #4 while former world #1 Rory McIlory drops to #6.

The 2013 Tour Championship field is set. The top 30 players listed below make it to the Tour Championship at East Lake this week. Despite the penalty controversy, Tiger Woods managed to overtake Henrik Stenson and comes in with the lead. Notably absent from this list is Rory McIlory.

The table below shows the current FedEx Cup standings on the left, player name in the middle and current points on the right.

Admittedly, I have not watched the BMW Championship. Like many golf viewers, I find my interest in watching professional golf wanes as college and NFL football season begins. It also wanes when the final major championship is over, the PGA Championship.

Jim Furyk shot a 28 on the back nine Friday at the BMW, his first nine hole. Amazing. 6th time in PGA Tour history. 59’s are becoming more and more common. The bar is moving lower and lower. Nice job Jim.

I did manage to watch footage of Tiger Woods’s rules violation Friday. I tend to not write much about Tiger as the rest of the golf media nauseatingly over-covers him. But I felt this time I would share some thoughts on his quadruple bogey Friday.

On his first hole Friday, Tiger knocked a shot into some trees. Inside the trees Tiger then began moving loose impediments. No problem. He was working away at moving small twigs and rocks until he came upon a larger twig next to his ball. He started to move the twig and the ball moved. He immediately stopped moving the twig and paused. It was at that time that I expected Tiger would have called a rules official or his playing partner over to inform them that he caused his ball to move. He did nothing of the sort. He proceeded to hit his shot, make double bogey on the hole and move on.

A few holes later Woods was assessed a two stroke penalty for causing his ball to move. Woods denied that he moved the ball. PGA Tour rules official Slugger White played the video for Woods several times before Woods accepted the penalty and walked off.

Later unverified reports stated that Woods punched a wall in anger. He still contends that the ball “oscillated,” meaning that it moved but returned to its original position. The video however, shows clearly that the ball did move.

The penalty would have only been one stroke if Woods would have proceeded properly and put his ball back to its original position. Since Woods didn’t return the ball to the proper position, he was assessed another penalty stroke.

What I Saw

I clearly saw the ball move, as did the PGA Tour’s rules official Slugger White. I find it odd that Woods stopped at the very moment the ball moved, no longer moving any more impediments, yet says he didn’t see the ball move. Tiger would have been a hero to the press if he would have called the penalty on himself. He would also be one one shot closer to the lead.

What are your thoughts on this? Did he see the ball move and knowingly cheat by not calling a penalty on himself? Only one person really knows, Tiger. Perhaps he saw the ball oscillate and return to its original position? Or did he not see anything? If you think he didn’t see anything, how could he not, as he was moving a stick right by the ball? If he didn’t see the ball move, why did he suddenly stop when the ball moved?